


they stare at me while i stare at you

by candycolamorgan



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, SDCC shenanigans, bodyguard/actress au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 17:23:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4445183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candycolamorgan/pseuds/candycolamorgan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I’m only doing this to better keep you in line,” he explained. </p><p>She tilted her head and gave him a condescending smile. “That’s so cute that you think you could.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	they stare at me while i stare at you

 

"And last, but certainly not least— _Caroline Forbes!_ "

The mass of thousands erupted into an uproar as the walls of Hall H practically shook with excited screams when the woman in question stepped onto the stage, laughing and waving eagerly at the sea of people.

To the delight of the crowd she quickly darted to the edge of the stage and stealthily reached down to flick one of the security detail's ear, startling him out of his focus that was directed in the opposite direction.

They watched as he made to grab for her, but she playfully skirted away just in time to the cheers of everyone and hurried to take her seat with an entirely too pleased grin.

After the moderator calmed the crowd enough, she posed her first question to Caroline.

"Well now I feel obligated on behalf of everyone here to first of all ask why you felt the need to manhandle that poor gentleman?"

She and Stefan, who was seated a little further down the table, laughed as the others on the panel gave them curious looks, eventually explaining their long-running bet that she’d never be able to sneak up on her usually unflappable bodyguard.

“Figures you’d only dare try it with the cover of sixty-five hundred people’s screams,” he added dryly, leaning past Bonnie to narrow his eyes at her triumphant grin.

"Now, now— don't be a sore loser just because you gotta pay up."

Questions immediately flew all around the panel at Stefan's comically overwrought cringe as if remembering something unpleasant, demanding to know what the forfeit was. When he seemed wholly unwilling to even give a hint, everyone's expectant gazes fell to Caroline who simply teased, "It'll be worth the wait, _trust me_ ," and winked.

It seemed like the focus of the panel might've actually gotten back on track to the actual reason they were all there, but it wasn't even ten minutes into a long discussion of all the struggles of producing a TV show between a couple of their executive producers that something other than sloppy continuity errors caught the audience's attention.

With a sudden pan away from whoever was speaking, the camera just narrowly caught Caroline aiming a paper airplane straight at her unsuspecting bodyguard’s head and hitting him dead on, projecting the whole thing on the big screen for the entire hall to see. She gasped with surprise when he spun around and glared, trying her best to smother the delighted shock at actually hitting him.

Totally distracted from whatever was being discussed, everyone’s eyes were glued to the little interaction between their favorite blonde and her poor security guy.

“It's always like this on set,” Kat informed them lazily, the certain innuendo lacing her tone and smile causing a host of appreciative hollers as she shifted to address the man in question. “I don’t know _how_ you put up with it, Klaus.” There was a ripple of palpable interest now that the fans finally had a name to go with the face that was currently blowing up on twitter feeds as simply ‘Caroline Forbes’ hot bodyguard.’

He called out something back at Kat that was unintelligible to anyone farther than a few rows back, and even the moderator had to cover her laugh up, insisting when a few louder fans wanted to know what was said, that she couldn’t repeat it.

“I will say this, though,” she relented at all the disappointed groans, “I can’t help but think Klaus here deserves a bit of credit seeing as how Caroline might not have even made it to this panel in the first place if it weren’t for him.”

Caroline let out a barking laugh and tried to hide her embarrassment at being called out about _that_.

“Okay, okay!” she began warningly, looking down the table to give a particularly meaningful look at her male co-stars who seemed on the verge of bursting out laughing at whatever the moderator was referring to. “Before any one of you says something, can I just say that he did not carry me the _whole_ way, and that these heels were not made for running!”

The rest of the room laughed along with the cast, and Caroline couldn’t stop the grin that pulled at the corners of her mouth no matter how stern she tried to look.

“I _told_ you not to drink all that coffee, sweetheart,” Klaus admonished in a mocking tone that was clearly heard by everyone over the sound system thanks to the presence of mind of the fan who was next up to ask a question. Looking startled at having a microphone shoved under his face by the grinning girl next to him, he barely registered the explosion of wolf whistles and tittering screeches from the entire female presence at the sound of his low, accented voice.

Caroline felt her cheeks redden even further.

“Well it _wouldn’t_ have even been an issue if you weren’t such a paranoid freak and let me use the closest bathroom instead of one clear across the main floor!” she laughingly protested, trying to be heard over the scattered chattering and feeling a rush of vindication at the crowd’s sympathetic reaction. Klaus, in a fit of offended professional pride, rushed to grab the microphone from the girl and turned to face the sea of people before him.

“That area was _not_ properly vetted, and she knew it,” he said stiffly to everyone’s amusement, a wry grin pulling at the resistant corners of his mouth at Caroline’s exaggerated eyeroll. “Now, if I’m reading your EP’s evil eye correctly, you’d better stop falling off-track and get back to business, love.” She crinkled her nose at him in a way he was all-too familiar with, and he braced himself for her intractable need to have her way.

“I can’t help it,” she pouted exaggeratedly, “It’s weird seeing the back of your head for such a long time. It makes me just want to throw stuff at it.” His long-suffering sigh was drowned out by the uproarious laughter of the fans, and when it quieted enough for anyone to get a word in, the moderator suggested he might as well come up if they were going to have any chance of continuing.

“Yeah, let’s do that!” Caroline chimed in cheerfully, shooting him a sweetly provoking smile and motioning toward the empty space on her left. He shook his head emphatically which only seemed to make her gesturing more frantic, the gleam in her eye more determined as she egged on the crowd’s encouraging chants of _Klaus! Klaus! Klaus!_

He finally gave in with a resigned shake of his head when he realized she wasn’t going to back down any time soon, and made his way up the steps off the side of the stage, glaring at her in a very put-out manner that only made her smile brilliantly.

A technician quickly produced a chair and microphone for him as if out of thin air and he sat down with a stern look to the beautiful, but undeniable, pain in the ass next to him.

“I’m only doing this to better keep you in line,” he explained.

She tilted her head and gave him a condescending smile.

“That’s so cute that you think you could.”

She could tell that Klaus was biting back a retort that was dying to make its way out at the burst of giggles from the audience, but he refrained, clearly hoping to fade into the background as quickly as possible. A feat she knew would be impossible if the way she found herself utterly fixated on the clenched line of his jaw was any indication.

God, how she wished he _would_ handle her, she thought privately to herself as a sudden burst of heat unfurled low in her stomach.

He must have read some of that sentiment in her gaze because he suddenly looked down and away, clearing his throat slightly as a light flush made its way up his neck where only she could see from her angle next to him.

Satisfied at his reaction, she sat back and let the others shift the attention back to their show. True, it hadn’t been much of an acknowledgement of her feelings, but considering he’d been either unintentionally or very subtly stonewalling her at every turn for months now, it was _something_. And she would damn well take it.

Caroline was still in stiches at Bonnie’s recounting of one her more disastrous auditions that involved an awkward exchange with the lead actor (who she’d mistaken for an assistant) and an emotional read-through that was hindered greatly by the casting director’s little dog nipping at her heels below the table when the moderator addressed the rest of the panel.

“That does bring up an interesting question though,” she began curiously, “on what you all remember from your auditions. Any memorable moments?”

They all mused on their memories one by one, Caroline’s ears perking up attentively when she heard Kat talking about their first read-through they’d done together.

“The thing I remember most about it was how afterwards the producers commented on how they loved the bitchiness I brought to the dialogue,” she stated dryly, “when in reality I thought we were up for the same role and was just acting that way naturally.” Caroline laughed along with everyone else as her co-star rushed to justify herself. “You’d all be miffed too if you thought you were up against her! She was so damn sweet and nice to everyone, and _way_ more like the character she ended up getting, thankfully for me.”

There were more laughs from the crowd, but this time they were directed towards the other side of the table. Caroline turned to her left in confusion as she followed the line of their collective gaze, catching the slow shake of Klaus’ head and the sly grin everyone seemed so focused on.

“What?” she demanded. “Why are you shaking your head like that?” He looked as if he wasn’t going to answer, but eventually caved when he saw the number of expectant faces staring at him.

“It’s nothing,” he shrugged off casually, “I just don’t think you’re like your character at all. You’re quite mean in real life.”

Caroline blinked rapidly as she spluttered incoherently at the totally inaccurate statement. She didn’t know what the hell he was talking about—she was a _goddamn_ _joy_ to be around!

When she said as much, he just shook his head once again.

“You are always trying to weasel out of your security detail, causing me endless grief,” he pointed out, undeterred, “and you play pranks on everyone constantly. For instance, I know for a _fact_ you were the one who put that—”

She lunged at him frantically then, slapping a hand over his mouth as she gave him a murderous look. No one on set had figured out she was the one who slipped that whoopee cushion in the bed before filming a particularly heated scene between Stefan and Kat, and she had no intention of them finding out now.

The devilish gleam in his eyes was uncompromising, though, and she let out a frustrated groan, knowing the price of his silence on the matter.

“Alright, alright, I’m not nice!” she confessed to the audience with no small amount of chagrin. “Are you happy now?” she growled at him, to the amusement of everyone. He nodded and she lowered her hand warily, ready to spring into action if he reneged.

Knowing exactly how to get back at him for such a display, she leaned towards him with an exaggerated sigh to the onlooking fans.

“The things I put up with for this face,” she mocked, curling a hand around his cheek in a patronizing manner. “I suppose I’m lucky when you consider the alternatives. Because only in Hollywood do bodyguards look like this, am I right ladies?”

The hall absolutely lost it at that, devolving into a hormone-crazed mob as they screamed and whistled at Klaus to levels that far surpassed even when Damon had blown them kisses upon his entrance.

Caroline felt the heat of his flush against her palm before he hurriedly brushed her hand away and she laughed as the moderator tried to calm down the crowd.

It was a good deal later when it had quieted enough to allow another audience member to step up to the mic, the next person in line clearing his throat nervously before turning to address the opposite end of the panel.

"This question is for Damon— I was just wondering now that things are finally over between you and Katherine's characters, what's going to keep him in Mystic Falls? What's next for him?"

Her co-star smirked, and Caroline felt the instinctive wave of dislike she always had to suffer through whenever she saw his face.

"What or _who_?" he asked in return, drawing a sizable reaction of excited and fawning squeals from the crowd.

He started in on what was sure to be a long-winded answer and she tuned him out, occupying her mind with infinitely more interesting things. Such as the perspiring glass of ice water in front of her, or the way she could smell the hint of Klaus' aftershave. Which of course led her mind down the path of imagining him getting ready in the morning... in the shower… _naked_ , with just one adjoining hotel door between them...

So absorbed was she with the tempting images, that she only barely just came out of her musings in time for the tail end of Damon's answer.

"...but as for love interests? Who knows who'll fall into his clutches next season?" Leaning over to look down the long stretch of table between them, he fixed Caroline with what she could only assume he thought was a suggestive glance. "Maybe our resident blondie might be a willing victim?"

There was a peal of laughter from the audience that only multiplied when they saw Caroline's reddening cheeks plastered all over the big screen.

Not that she could blame them when there was no way they could possibly know it was out of anger.

Because after everything that had happened, he really thought himself entitled to even _joke_ about something like that?

Struggling to come up with an appropriate answer through the paralyzing rage, she became increasingly aware that every single pair of eyes was trained on her response.

Before the silence could become awkward or she stuttered out an embarrassingly inane answer, Klaus grabbed the seat of her chair and very obviously, in front of over six thousand people, dragged it closer to his side, shooting a frighteningly polite smile back at Damon.

"Over my dead body.”

The entire room exploded into an absolute frenzy of cheers at what they thought was a good-natured, overprotective joke, but Caroline recognized it for what it _really_ was and grabbed his hand underneath the cover of the tablecloth to squeeze it gratefully.

His face showed no outward indication that he even noticed the gesture, but a moment later she was surprised to feel his fingers slide up her wrist and stroke the outline of her swallow tattoo with his thumb. The intimacy of his touch shocked her a little, but she eagerly drank in the warmth of its reassurance.

As well as something else that burned underneath her skin a little too hotly to be considered comfort— _ached_ a little too much to be mistaken for gratitude.

Throwing his hands up in a sheepish but deferential manner to the reaction of the fans, Damon sat back with a chastised grin she knew was anything but genuine. His 'little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar' act might’ve fooled everyone else, but she knew better.

Honestly, she'd never figured out how such an asshole could become one of the most overrated actors in both appearance _and_ ability. Maybe if people looked past the admittedly pretty blue eyes, they'd realize he'd been playing the same pathetic excuse of an anti-hero with a few sarcastic zingers for the past three years now.

A sentiment Klaus was quick to echo once the panel was finally over as he guided her toward her room for a brief respite before she was obligated to attend a few afterparties later that night.

“I’ll never understand how a bloke like that gets all those people's attention. He's such a bloody prick."

Caroline let out a humorless laugh as she fumbled through her bag looking for her room key.

"You don't have to be a nice guy to make it in this business," she pointed out bitterly, instantly regretting not checking her tone when she saw the concerned look on his face.

“Caroline,” he began seriously, catching her a little off guard with the use of her name instead of his usual slew of annoying pet names. "I know it's not my place to ask, but was he the one who...?"

"Yes," she answered a bit curtly, considering she'd actually wanted to tell him about Damon ever since he'd first been assigned to shadow her. She'd come so close over the past year, but every time she always talked herself out of it. It had become addicting— the way he looked at her as if she was full of light, treated her like she was strong in her own right unlike everyone else around her who tried to handle her with kid gloves. She hadn't wanted that to change. Even if complete honesty between them had been the price.

Thankfully, Klaus didn't press her for more details, offering instead to give her the spare keycard he had in his room next door when it seemed hopeless that she'd find it in the mess of her purse when it was probably lost somewhere downstairs.

She followed him into his adjoining suite, sullen and frustrated and unable to discern exactly why as he wordlessly went to the desk to retrieve the spare.

It took her a moment to realize it was because she'd never been in any room of his, and now that she finally was, it wasn't for the reasons she'd imagined.

He came back over to her, unlocking the door between their rooms before holding out the key for her to take.

"So that's it, then?" she grumbled angrily.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean now that you know, am I just gonna forever be considered damaged goods in your eyes?"

“What?” he asked, clearly startled at first. His gaze narrowed at her in offended outrage as realization set in and he gritted out between his tightly clenched jaw, " _Of course not_. Will you stop being so idiotic and just take your damn key?"

For someone who'd sat through her fair share of blistering set downs from him for slipping out from under his detail once or twice, it was hardly what she considered harsh, but Caroline felt the hot sting of tears anyways.

"Everything’s different now," she insisted stubbornly. "You've never let me into your room _before_." He shook his head in confusion at her accusatory tone.

"Well you've never been so careless with your key before! What does that have to do with anything?"

"I could understand when maybe you were afraid of anything happening between us," she began morosely, blinking back the threat of tears, "but now it's like you're so sure nothing ever _will_ that it wouldn't even matter if I strut around in here stark naked!"

Momentarily distracted at the image she described, he had to physically shake himself out of visions of her coming to him in his room with all that smooth skin bared, of all the demands she'd make of him to prove that he'd be anything _but_ indifferent.

"You're reading too much into things, sweetheart," he replied gruffly, hoping to quell this argument before it escalated into something they wouldn’t be able to stop; revealed some truths that could not be unsaid. It had the opposite effect however, sending her into a fresh wave of angry growls.

“Oh, now I'm imagining things? Like how you're always eyeing me—"

"It's _my job_ to keep an eye on you," he interjected wryly, which she chose to ignore completely.

“—or the way you could barely stand it when Tyler and I had to shoot that one scene together?"

Klaus instinctively stepped closer, making her back up towards the door as the memory of that hellish day on set filled his mind. It had been unmitigated torture to stand by as she rolled around half naked in bed with that oaf, moaning and gasping in front of everyone as if that was what she really sounded like in the throes of passionate, mind-numbing sex.

Not that he knew for a fact either, but the Caroline in his dreams whose soft cries of pleasure could only be drawn out with the most skilled attention seemed infinitely more accurate.

"Alright, enough of this," he demanded hoarsely, unsure if he was speaking mostly to her or his own overactive imagination. "You've had a long day, go get some rest and I'll wake you up when it's time to leave."

Klaus could barely keep himself in check at the hurt he read in her expression, his self-control unraveling with alarming quickness after over a year of successfully beating it back into place. He almost envied the version of himself she was obviously laboring under if she believed it was so easy for him to just push her away instead of pulling them both down onto his bed right now and putting to rest all her doubts about what he felt for her.

She brushed off his attempts to usher her through the threshold of her suite, digging her fingers into the hard muscle of his upper arms to bring him nearer.

" _No_. Not until you tell me, not until you _admit—_ "

Something about the possessive way she pulled him in closer obliterated the last charred remains of his barriers, propelling him to grab at the handle behind her and shut the door with a deafening slam. Before she could speak another word, he had her up against it, pressing every inch of his body into every available inch of hers.

He saw the exact moment she realized he was already half hard against her hip, the flush rising in her cheeks coupled with the shy downward flutter of those dark lashes. Bracing his forearms on either side of her, he leaned down until the tip of his nose brushed hers.

“Is this what you wanted to know?” he whispered, a dark, unfamiliar edge to his voice. “That I’m in a constant state of wanting you? That no other assignment I’ve ever had has been half as satisfying than the task of keeping others’ hands off you?”

He paused to roll his hips harder against her until she was whimpering with frustrated desire.

“Because if it _is_ ,” he continued, the words falling in hot puffs against her cheek, "I would have to tell you about all those nights I drove you home, thrilled you weren’t with anyone else, but hating that you were alone and knowing I wouldn’t be the one to warm your bed.”

If she wasn’t already weak in the knees at his confession, Caroline felt close to collapsing altogether when he slid one hand into her mussed curls to cup the base of her skull and tilt it until he had an unimpeded view of the entire length of her neck.

“ _God_ ,” he breathed unsteadily, “you’re so beautiful.” The warmth of his breath slid down her jaw to her throat and she strained to press closer in any way. “You should never be waking up alone,” he growled, making it sound as if it was the most heinous of all crimes. Any other time she might’ve smiled in response, or at least admit in turn that being alone was preferable than spending even a moment with anyone else that wasn’t him, but a depth of need she’d been holding back for too long now began to resurface and seep into every nerve until she was all but speechless.

“ _Klaus_ ,” she whined, far beyond caring if she had to beg him to take that one last step.

The raw honesty in her plaintive tone must have done the trick, because before she could take another breath, he was crushing her into the most devastating kiss she’d ever experienced.

She felt as if her whole body was opening to him with the slide of his lips against hers, every nerve greedily soaking up the sensation of his callused hands rubbing over her bare arms.

After all this time, she should have been satisfied with finally knowing the taste of him— the feel of his lips over hers, or the way he held her so securely, but it was only when he gradually gentled the kiss and eased away that she knew she'd never be content with one taste.

He bent down to pick up the keycard that had ended up on the floor sometime in the flurry of movement, and once again opened the door between their rooms for her.

“Lock the door behind you.”

“And if I don’t want to?” she countered breathlessly.

“Do it anyways,” he commanded grimly, sending a perverse little thrill through her.

She ran a finger slowly along his jaw, luxuriating in the rough texture of his day old scruff as she smiled knowingly up at him.

“Would that make _you_ feel safer?”

Klaus gave her a speaking glance, but it was too late now to have any real effect. She’d neatly cornered him into showing his hand and she was _not_ going to pretend nothing had happened. _Everything was different now_ , she mused, but unlike before where the thought had brought a sense of dread, it now infused her with a giddy excitement.

“This isn’t professional,” he choked out unsteadily when she leaned up to press biting little nips down his throat.

Caroline let out an amused chuckle.

“Oh, is that all?” she murmured against the base of his neck. "Fine, you’re fired then.”

“I answer to management, love,” he pointed out, breath hitching the slightest bit when the back of her knuckles brushed against the sensitive area near his waist as she fiddled with the hem of his shirt. " _Not_ you.”

“Mmm, even better,” she purred while pulling at his henley, noting with satisfaction that he wasn't pushing her away. “We’re practically co-workers, and co-workers can _definitely_ do this.” Before he could ask her what she meant, she bit down on his lower lip, pulling gently in encouraging little tugs that promptly shut down any higher brain function he might have been capable of at that point.

Which was why when Caroline started pulling off his shirt and pushing him toward the bed, he followed without protest in an almost dreamlike series of movements.

He came out of it a bit when he felt her reaching for his belt buckle, the metallic click echoing loudly in the room.

“Caroline,” he warned, grabbing her wrist to stop her. She looked up at him with a frown, raising a questioning brow.

“ _Klaus_ ,” she shot back in a mocking tone. “Is this where you tell me to leave? That I’m getting ahead of myself?” She looked down at the increasingly obvious evidence that some parts of him certainly didn’t think so, and he almost barked out a laugh at the notion.

“No,” he countered, “I’m warning you that if you don’t leave now, I’m going to hold you personally responsible for this situation.” He gestured to his lap and she let out a relieved laugh, leaning in closer to press a lingering kiss to the corner of his smiling mouth.

“It’d be my pleasure.”

She helped divest him of his pants and he was just kicking off his boots when she stepped away and unzipped the back of her dress in one smooth move. He sat there, completely riveted as the material slithered down the long line of her legs, landing in a heap on the floor.

Klaus felt his mouth go dry when he saw that she hadn’t been wearing a bra, completely naked to his gaze aside from her heels and some provocative scrap of fabric he supposed passed for knickers these days.

He watched the sway of her hips attentively as she moved closer and lifted one heeled foot onto the edge of the bed next to his thigh.

“Could you get that?” she asked sweetly, the flirtatious glint in her eyes leaving no doubt in his mind that she knew exactly the effect she was having on him.

Regardless, he wordlessly gripped her ankle and carefully undid the delicate fastening. He let the shoe fall carelessly to the floor and she in turn lifted the other. Again he unfastened it, but when she made to pull away he grabbed her hip and brought her tightly between his knees.

A glib remark died in her throat when she felt his hot breath slide down her stomach, followed by his even hotter tongue.

“ _Klaus_ —” she choked out past the swiftly rising heat in her veins, jerking in surprise when she felt the scrape of his teeth as he bit down on the lacy edge his fingers easily slipped past.

Caroline’s breathing started to come in fitful stops and starts the longer he lingered there, seemingly content to lick the outline of her navel and knead the soft curve of her ass indefinitely. His little growls of appreciation alone were making her so wet it made her blush to think of what it would be like when he actually touched her there.

He eventually hooked his thumbs around the waistband and dragged it down, wasting no time after she weakly kicked them away to pull her up until she was straddling his waist.

The only barrier between them now was Klaus’ grey boxer briefs and she started to instinctively grind against his hardness in slow, circular thrusts. Her impatient movements didn’t go unnoticed and she saw that he was about to say something when his eyes suddenly widened. He glanced down between their bodies and she heard his sharp intake of breath.

“Jesus, you’re so wet already, sweetheart. _Fuck,_ I can feel it _._ ” She squirmed in his grip, but his arm wrapped around her lower back immediately to lock her in place. “Are you close, Caroline?” he asked in that seductive accent, his arm tightening the tiniest bit when her gaze turned evasive. “Tell me the truth, love.”

She didn’t know why it felt so hard to admit it, but when she finally did, the look he gave her was worth far more than any misplaced sense of discomfiture.

Her honesty further proved to pay off tenfold when he started to rock her harder against him, her eyes meeting his with surprise when she realized what he was trying to do.

“Klaus, I don’t think—”

“Then don’t,” he interjected, never stopping the insistent roll of her hips against his. “Or if you must, think about how good this feels now, how much better it’ll be when I’m actually inside you.”

It didn’t take long after that for her to crash headfirst into a toe-curling climax, the alternating sweet nothings and filthy obscenities he whispered into her ear the whole time bringing her swiftly over the edge.

She was still panting heavily when he gently placed her further up onto the bed, staring at him through slitted eyes as he discarded his last bit of clothing.

He could see the satisfied exhaustion in her expression and at that moment there was nothing he wanted more than to memorize every single detail of the sight before him— the uneven rise and fall of her chest, the glistening beads of sweat along her brow and neck. There didn’t seem enough time in the world to properly absorb it all, and he eventually came to the very sensible conclusion that his only recourse was to extend that look for as long as he could.

Bending down, he shifted to settle between her legs, licking the soft skin of her inner thigh until she was emitting those throaty moans he was quickly becoming addicted to. He grinned, moving higher.

“Klaus,” she protested weakly, reaching down to pull gently at his hair. “Later, _later_.”

He shook his head in stubborn refusal. “You can’t know how long I’ve been dreaming of the taste of you. I plan to savor this, sweetheart.” A harsh little laugh slipped from her lips and she dug her nails more insistently into the back of his neck.

“It can’t be more than how long I’ve been wishing the feel of my fingers were yours.”

Klaus paused his nibbling bites at the side of her knee and lifted his head to meet her heated gaze with his own, electrified at the implications of her confession. _She thought about him while getting herself off?_ His breathing became shallow as he gave in to the urging of her hands and crawled up her body with excruciating slowness, making sure she felt every bit of his body’s response to her words.

“And when did you first realize that?” he asked thickly, partly out of genuine curiosity, but mostly as a distraction to keep from coming right then and there.

The teasing mischievousness faded from her eyes, replaced with a look far more searching and earnest than he’d been expecting. It unsettled him in a way he’d never experienced before, this paralyzing need to not disappoint her in any possible way seizing up his lungs until he felt he couldn’t breathe for fear of saying something entirely too inadequate or overly sentimental and maudlin.

“Do you remember that one flashback episode we filmed at the beginning of last season with all the horses on set?” He nodded, recalling that week vividly. It was hard to forget when he’d flown into a furious rage one day after catching some unsupervised extras taunting and throwing stones at the poor beasts in their paddock. “Well, I wanted to go look at them on my break and I saw you there with them.”

He gave her a quizzical little smile. “I don’t think I’m following, love.”

She blushed an intriguing shade of red that he wanted to smother with kisses, only just refraining from doing so as she continued to explain.

“One of them was spooked for some reason and you were trying to calm it down and I…” She hesitated, fixing her eyes on the tattoo on his shoulder. “I couldn’t look away. The way your fingers stroked through that mane so gently. How you whispered in its ear so reassuringly. I wanted to feel your hands on me so badly, to be the focus of all your attention like that.”

She didn’t look up at him when she finished, still resolutely not meeting his eyes. And to be honest, at that moment Klaus was glad she didn’t. He wasn’t sure what she’d make of the strangely twisted look on his face, an echo of the roiling tangle of emotions currently laying waste to his meticulously cultivated aloofness that he’d maintained for so much of his life.

His blood felt hot and thick underneath his skin, the rhythm of his heart pounding loudly in his ears with the extra effort. The unsettling feeling from before came back in a painful rush, intensely magnified, and it took him a while to finally realize what it was.

A true sense of humility.

The fact that she had wanted him since then, only a short month after they’d first met, had his mind churning with all the missed opportunities. All the times he might’ve misinterpreted her barbed teasing or particularly exasperating behavior.

Something deep in his chest shifted, and he found that she was the indisputable center of it all. No part of him seemed immune to the sudden need to dedicate every breath he took to her pleasure. The lines he had once taken refuge in drawing between them, if not already irrevocably crossed at this point, weren’t even a distant memory. There was no distinction, no neat boxes to place every well-organized feeling towards her in. They had overflowed, muddling together until they were all intrinsically linked and he was drowning in them.

Caroline finally brought herself to look up at him from beneath her lashes and she let out a nervous chuckle, clearly trying to downplay what she’d just admitted.

“I know it’s silly, I just couldn’t—”

He cut her off with a crushing kiss, moving his hips in tandem with the long, searching strokes of his tongue, only letting up when he felt the soft trembling of her navel against the hard lines of his abdomen.

“ _Caroline_ ,” he murmured against her cheek, the guttural sound of her name from his lips somehow more intimate than any endearment could ever be. “I am not going to let you sleep for a _very_ long time.”

The dark promise made her gut clench with a thrill of anticipation that only intensified as he continued, teasing her wet folds with the hot length of his cock.

“The first time I’ll be so gentle, love. So slow and languid you’re going to beg me to go faster, but I won’t— not until the second time.”

“The _second_ time?” she whispered hoarsely with disbelief, wondering how she’d even make it through once tonight without being reduced to some desperate creature that he could bring to a head with just the brush of his knuckles along her jaw; wondering if that wasn’t exactly his intention.

“Mmm, yes,” he confirmed with a low purr, pushing one of her legs further into the mattress while he hooked the other higher around his waist. “I’m very determined, as you can tell.” That brought a breathless giggle to her lips, which quickly turned into a low groan when she felt the tip of him press into her entrance. “And after _that_ —”

Her agonized moan interrupted him and he let out a low gasp when she gripped his ass to pull him inside her fully. She saw his eyelashes flicker as his gaze turned dark and unfocused with every deep, wet thrust she arched into.

When he seemed able to speak, Caroline felt his hot breath in her ear, his words licking down her spine until they settled in the very core of her, inflaming her more than she ever thought possible.

“Oh sweetheart, before we’re done this headboard is going to bear your marks.”

A prediction she was more than willingly to let him prove.

 

* * *

 

The sun had long since set when they finally paused to rest, breathless and replete next to each other.

Klaus was stroking the curve of her hip lazily while she hummed with pleasure, a wave of contentment washing through her. For once she felt as if she was in the exact right place at the exact right time— _with_ the exact right person. There was a restlessness in her mind that had quieted; so engrained and ever-present that she didn’t even notice it had been there all along until she realized it was gone.

“I can’t believe we could’ve been doing this ages ago,” she reflected with a touch of humor as he began trailing kisses up the side of her neck. “Just think of all the hotel fees we could’ve saved on.” He laughed at that and nipped at her ear playfully. “If only you’d been just a _little_ bit nicer to me…” she chided with a mocking grin.

That seemed to get his attention, and in a flurry of movement he had her pinned underneath him, her forearms locked in his uncompromising grip.

“If I recall correctly, sweetheart, you gave just as good as you got.” She made a dismissive sound, but wasn’t quite able to hide the hint of wicked satisfaction in her eyes. Leaning down until his lips were only a hairsbreadth away from hers, he continued softly, “You didn’t want me to be nice. The handful of times I tried it I was mercilessly shot down.”

It was her turn to be surprised.

“ _What?_ Name one time,” she scoffed, certain if he’d ever turned an iota of that charm in her direction she would have been putty in his hands.

He chuckled, ghosting his lips along the outline of her jaw with such frustrating lightness that she squirmed in his hold and tried to strain upwards. Klaus easily held her down, not allowing any harder contact.

“I distinctly remember when we were at Cannes last summer and trying to reassure you in the limo.” She frowned, trying to pinpoint the moment he was talking about. A flicker of a memory pierced through the haze and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Are you talking about that time you called me a pasty ghost?” she asked, wholly unimpressed at what he considered being ‘nice.’

“Those weren’t my _exact_ words,” he admonished lightly with a smile, “and I’m referring to right before that when I was endeavoring to comfort you.” She lifted a skeptical brow, hardly convinced when all she remembered from that trip was how infuriating and smug he’d been at his successful attempts to discomfit her in front of hundreds of cameras and prying eyes.

“If you say so,” she allowed with a healthy dose of disbelief coloring her tone.

“I _do_ say so,” he insisted, leaning back until their eyes met. “Poor darling, you looked so small and nervous then.” He let his gaze sweep over her prone form beneath him, and she noticed an almost imperceptible change in his expression, the slight quickening of his breath. There was something intensely fierce about it that sank into her very bones, igniting a familiar ache between her thighs.

A feeling she wasn’t alone in, if the growing hardness she felt through the thin sheet between their bodies was any indication.

“What?” she finally asked, breaking the charged silence that had fallen upon them. The whispered question came out strangely overcome and raspy past her dry lips.

The sound of her voice brought him out of whatever daze he was in and he grinned at her slowly in the predatory manner of one faced with deliciously willing prey.

“I was just thinking of how much I wanted you back then,” he mused out loud. “The things I wanted to do to you… the ways in which I wanted to comfort you, _soothe_ you until your cheeks were stained with that pretty little blush.” He impelled his hips just a little bit harder into her thigh until there was no doubt as to exactly what he meant.

“You are such a Neanderthal,” she scolded, the breathless quality of her voice bleeding out any real censure. In truth, Caroline was surprised at the revelation that he’d felt anything other than annoyance at her back then, let alone actual attraction. It was a nice little boost to her ego to know it hadn’t _all_ been as one-sided as she thought.

“Yes, I know,” he agreed unapologetically. “I’m not as evolved as the rest.” He looked so pleased and altogether shameless that she couldn’t help but quickly take advantage of his loosening grip and break out of his hold, maneuvering until she was straddling his waist while neatly shackling his wrists on either side of his head.

“I suppose you have your uses, though,” she admitted with a coy smile, deliberately moving against him where the sheet had fallen away. He looked up at her with heavily lidded eyes, as if staring at her took more strength than he was capable of. She liked it immensely.

“And none of them _nice_ ,” he pointed out stubbornly. She shook her head with exasperated amusement.

“No,” she agreed, “none of them—”

She let out a strangled gasp when he leaned up to bite the sensitive curve of her left breast, practically choking when she felt the teasing wet warmth of his tongue cover her nipple.

“— _nice._ ”

A fact she grew to greatly appreciate about him in the ensuing hours as she continually ignored the endless ringing of her phone, undoubtedly from everyone wondering why she didn’t show up that night to any of the afterparties or was increasingly late the next morning for their bus back to L.A.

When she finally could bring herself to reply to any of them, she quickly explained to Bonnie and Kat that she’d just catch a ride elsewhere.

She had no plans to get out of bed any time soon.


End file.
